Rome Police Make Plans for Security

Published March 10th, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Authorities in Rome are making plans for the security that will be needed in the days ahead -- when the cardinals who are gathered at the Vatican choose a new pope, and then when their selection is installed a few days later.

When white smoke pours out of the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, throngs of Romans will drop what they are doing and race to St. Peter's Square to cheer the new pope.

When the papal installation itself takes place, thousands of extra police will be summoned, and police helicopters will whirl overhead.

Meanwhile, preparations for the voting that will lead to a new pope are continuing apace at the Vatican.

Firefighters yesterday installed the chimney that will tell the world when a decision has been reached.

Elsewhere, officials took steps to definitively end Benedict XVI's pontificate, destroying his fisherman's ring and the personal seals and stamps he used for official papers.